The Making Of A Beautiful Friendship
by Just-Me-and-My-Brain
Summary: Excalibur seems to have one friend... a girl named Neko. And these are the fun-filled stories about their many adventures together... enjoy!
1. Finding a Friend

_So, This is a short story that connects to my other story; Silence. I was bored and decided to do a cute story off of something mentioned in one of the chapters. And so; without further ado- this is the story behind the time Neko and Excalibur first met._

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Excalibur sighed as he maintained his weapon form, so many boring hours, so few visitors.

"Excalibur," A deep, rumbling, voice echoed in the cave, calling the weapon into his human form.

"Daddy, why is there a sword stuck in the middle of this cave?" A child's voice rang out shortly after the summoning.

"Because this is the sword's home." The deep voice replied gently.

"Yes, Grim Reaper, it is I; the Holy Sword Excalibur, at your service." Excalibur transformed and stared at the tall reaper, who now had a female toddler perched on his shoulders.

"Daddy! That sword just transformed into a goofy looking creature!" The girl giggled and pointed at Excalibur.

"Fool!" Excalibur shot his cane out and pointed it at the girl.

"Hey! It's not polite to point!" The girl yelled, pouting her lip.

"Fool! You were pointing at me first!" Excalibur argued, watching as the child lowered her pointing hand.

"Prove it." The toddler frowned.

"Enough." The reaper reached up, lifted the girl from his shoulders, pulled her over his head, and set her gently on the ground in one swift movement.

"Reaper; why did you bring her here?" Excalibur had an urge to point his cane at the man but held back, knowing that Grim Reaper deserved much more respect than that.

"She refuses to have a weapon; I wanted to know how well she would act around you... maybe you could handle her." The man shrugged and removed his mask so that he could watch the interactions better. "I'll be observing- I won't interfere... are you ready?"

"What?" The girl whipped around and stared up at her father, needing to take a few steps back in order to see his face without leaning back so far that she tipped over.

"Maybe..." Excalibur walked up behind the girl. "You!"

The girl turned around to frown at the man.

"Do you know where my legend starts?" Excalibur pointed his cane.

"Why should I care?" The innocent child sat down, apparently willing to hear something called a story anyways.

"Fool! Because it dates back to the twelfth century and..." Excalibur began his long story, using his hands and cane to exaggerate various things in his tale.

He was almost halfway done when he was interrupted by the child's question; "Are you done yet?"

"What?" Excalibur looked at the cross-legged child who was looking unfathomably bored.

"Your story is stupid. Why doesn't it have dragons or something it it? Can't you at least try to make it a little interesting?" The girl complained.

"Fool!" Excalibur pointed at her.

"Stop calling me a fool!" The girl stood up and stomped her foot angrily.

"No, because that's what you are." Excalibur stood his ground.

"No!" The girl pointed her hand at the creature and watched as a bright lightening bolt shot out of her hand and into the annoying man, throwing him against the opposite cave wall.

"Oof!" Excalibur felt the wind rush out of his lungs as he slammed into the stone, dropping limply into a puddle below.

"Hey!" The girl ran forward and snatched up Excalibur's cane from the smooth stone stage, eyeing it with extreme interest.

"Give that back!" Excalibur climbed to his feet and walked forward, trying to snatch his cane back from the toddler.

"No!" The girl stuck out her tongue.

"Fool! Give it back _now_!" Excalibur growled with frustration at the stubborn girl.

"No! You're annoying! And nobody will ever like you if you're annoying!" The girl shouted and ran a few steps away.

"Fool!" Excalibur frowned, remembering all of the people who rejected him based on that claim.

"It take's one to know one." The girl stuck her tongue out again.

This made Excalibur pause for a moment, he slowly realized that the child was just as stubborn as him- and very quick with come-backs.

"... Yes." Excalibur nodded slowly. "I think you're right..." Excalibur let out a rare bark of laughter.

The girl watched him quietly.

"You're very smart for your age." Excalibur complemented.

"Thank you." The girl smiled.

"May I have my cane back, please?" Excalibur requested and waited for the girl to step closer.

"Yeah." The girl nodded.

"By the way; what's your name?" Excalibur paused while taking the stick, allowing both his and her hands to rest on it.

"Neko." The girl answered innocently.

"Ah." Excalibur nodded before fully taking his cane back and smiling at the toddler.

_This could be the making of a beautiful friendship, Neko... A beautiful friendship, indeed._


	2. Copy Cat

_Hello! I just wanted to inform you that this plot idea came from **Sincerely the Sign Painter**. I would like to promote that I will write a chapter of the adventures of Excalibur and Neko based on an idea that YOU give me and I'll will put at the beginning of the chapter that you came up with that! You can give me ideas through reviews or PM's. Thank you and may you give me plenty of ideas!_**  
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* * *

**Copy Cat**

"So, Neko, what are we going to do today?" Excalibur hopped onto the girl's bed and watched her as she groaned and rolled over, muttering something about it being too early.

"Come on, let's do something today, go have an adventure or discover something!" Excalibur jumped off her bed and opened the curtains to her bedroom window.

"No! Excalibur, I want to sleep!" Neko whined, rolling over again and stuffing her head under her pillow.

"Neko, you're nine years old, you should stop acting like you're a little child." Excalibur chided, removing her blankets and pushing her feet until they were hanging off the edge of the bed.

"What did you have in mind?" Neko stayed lying down, deciding not to cooperate and make Excalibur do all of the work.

"I don't know, let's go explore the forest!" Excalibur looked out of her window toward the dark trees that seemed to be filled with shadows and darkness.

"I'm not allowed to go in there without Father." Neko huffed.

"You'll be with me, you'll be fine." Excalibur blew off the idea of Neko getting in trouble for going for a stroll through the woods.

"I donno… my dad said that that place is really dangerous." Neko frowned as Excalibur pushed her up into a sitting position.

"Fool! Nothing would dare attack me!" Excalibur argued.

"No, because they don't want to have to deal with the lecture they would receive about the proper way to maul and eat you." Neko retorted, rubbing her eyes lazily.

"I resent that." Excalibur frowned.

"And I resent allowing you to come here." Neko sighed, standing up and walking into her bathroom, shutting and locking the door before Excalibur could follow her in.

"So can we go?" Excalibur knocked on the door.

"Yeah, sure, fine, whatever… just shut up and stop waking me up so early!" Neko growled, changing into her normal day clothes that consisted of a pair of black jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a pair of brown, clunky shoes.

"Agreed." Excalibur nodded and started walking out of the room as Neko emerged from the side room and slipped on her glasses, quickly following the short creature out of the house and through the backyard.

* * *

"So…?" Neko followed Excalibur down a thin foot trail that could barely be classified as such.

"Now we go off in search of adventure!" Excalibur raised his cane in the air to add glamour to his movements.

"What kind of adventure!...?" Neko copied his movements with a stick she picked up from the ground.

"Well… why don't we…" Excalibur trailed off, stopping to look at something that stood in a cave opening not too far off the path.

"What?" Neko stopped and looked around.

"Look at that strange creature." Excalibur pointed at a figure that was looking at them.

"Yeah, it's…" Neko saw a tall, brown creature but as it walked closer it seemed to grow shorter and change into a more off green and white color. "Creepy."

"Nonsense!" Excalibur waved her off and turned back to the approaching figure. "Hello!"

"Hello!" It echoed, raising and moving it's hand exactly like Excalibur.

"Okay… that's a little more than creepy." Neko backed away as the creature who now looked exactly like Excalibur stepped onto the footpath.

"Do you wish to join us on our hike through the woods?" Excalibur waved his arms around.

"Indeed, I do!" The voice started out deeper but slowly grew to match Excalibur's pitch.

"Let's carry on then!" Excalibur nodded.

"Yes, let's!" The copy cat moved on and as the trio walked through the woods, Neko slowly began noticing that the copy cat was walking exactly like her friend.

"Um… Excalibur?" Neko tried to make her voice sound calm but knew that there was no hiding the fear she was feeling toward the copy cat creature.

"Yes?" The pair of creatures turned around at the same time and looked at her.

"My apologies," Excalibur faced the creature, "but _I_ am Excalibur."

"No, I'm afraid you're wrong." The copy cat chuckled.

"What? Stop that this instant!" Excalibur ordered.

"Stop copying me!" The other ordered, tackling the second to the ground.

"Oof!" Excalibur felt the wind get knocked out of him as the other forced him to the ground, knocking his hat and cane away in the action.

"Fool!" The creature underneath kicked the other and stood up just in time to be retackled and have both of them fall down a tall, steep bank and land in a shallow, rocky creek.

"Stop!" Neko picked up the hat and cane and jumped down the bank. She took a step back as she realized that she could now not tell the difference between who was who.

"Neko, give me back my cane and hat please." One of them held out their hand, slowly standing up in the water.

"Fool! I am Excalibur, don't listen to him." The second one argued, making no effort to stand up from the water.

"No! Foolish creature! Stop this!" The one on the left shouted.

"Both of you; shut up!" Neko growled.

"I have one question that will tell me who is who…" Neko thought for a moment before looking at the pair.

"What is your favorite number between 1 and 12?" Neko looked at the creatures.

"What kind of question is that?" The one who stood on the left growled. "How could that possibly let you know that I am Excalibur?"

"I have no right to pick a number… but if I had to I'd say 12 because my legend dates back to the twelfth century." The one sitting in the creek nodded.

"Why are you sitting in the water, Excalibur?" Neko didn't move but looked down at her friend.

"Well, I seemed to have done something to my leg… and my chest hurts a lot." The man frowned.

"How could you figure it out so quickly?" The other creature slowly began transforming, it became a large brown animal that somehow resembled a cross between a bear and a cat.

"Because I'm smarter than you." Neko smirked.

"Hm… well, I suppose that because you won my game, I should let you live but… I am awfully hungry." The animal lunged forward and barely missed the girl's chest with its claws.

"Father! Father, help!" Neko shouted on the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would hear her.

"None of that." The creature pounced and pawed her, slamming her against the creek bank.

"Neko!" A shadow flew into the bed and tackled the animal, quickly destroying it and making it bare a bright red soul.

"W-what was that?" Neko slowly picked herself up and made her way over to her dad.

"it was a kishen egg." Her father explained, "It has been attacking people who came into these woods for years… but I had never been able to catch it."

"Oh…" Neko frowned, "I'm sorry."

"I'm just happy that you're okay." The reaper nodded and hugged his daughter.

"I think Excalibur got hurt." Neko pulled away from her dad and stared at the sitting creature.

"I'm sure we can do something at home." The death god picked the small man up and helped Neko scale the steep bank.

"Let's not go on any more adventures for awhile, 'kay Excalibur?" Neko smiled as she looked at Excalibur being carried in her father's arms.

"Agreed."


	3. Sickness in the Night

_HELLO! So, I got this idea awhile ago when I was thinking about much I hate being sick. Yes, it's a much more "Cutesy" story, but I think it's good. In this story, Neko is only 5 years old... it was very hard to write a five year old kid... very hard indeed. You need to factor in their very basic knowledge at that age, and you need to remember how innocent children actually are. _

_So, with that in mind, please enjoy!_

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**Sickness in the Night**

* * *

Excalibur groaned, rolling sleeplessly in his bed, trying to find a spot that wasn't hot.

"Excalibur, what are you doing?" Neko sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "You're being so loud and annoying and it's only two in the morning… you usually wait until at least nine to start your usual attitude."

Excalibur groaned in reply, not having the energy to think of a decent comeback.

"Excalibur?" Neko frowned, realizing that her ears weren't hearing his voice as he shot back some sharp tongued remark.

Slowly the five-year-old lifted her blanket and climbed out of her bed, padding her way over to where the small, moaning man was laying.

"Neko, go back to bed." Excalibur panted, glaring at the girl.

The girl stared at the weapon for a moment before putting her hand on his forehead, copying what she had seen and felt her mother do so many times.

She pulled her hand away, feeling a sudden rush of heat against her hand and a thin layer of sweat wipe off of the man's head. "Excalibur, you're hot… and sticky."

Neko stood, staring at the man for a minute before nodding to herself and turning around.

"I'm gonna go get Daddy, I'll be back." Neko nodded, running across the room.

She stared at the round doorknob above her, the smooth metal bouncing the moonlight onto the floor.

The short girl jumped, reaching her hands out to grab the knob, her hand slipped, barely turning the handle.

She jumped again, turning it a little more this time but still not being able to open the door.

Neko looked around the room with her sharp eyes, glancing around for something to stand on.

She ran across the room when she spotted a pile of thick books next to the wall.

One by one she picked them up and stumbled back to her door, placing them one at a time under the door handle until it was tall enough that she could clamor onto the stack and turn the knob quickly and easily like her parents.

She hopped off of the books and pulled the door open, waiting until she could see that the gap was large enough for her to just squeeze through.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Neko ran down the hall towards her parent's bedroom.

She quickly thanked the super-powerful being that her dad was always trying to tell her about and that she didn't fully understand yet, that her parents left the door open a crack.

Mommy, Daddy, come quick! Excalibur's in trouble!" Neko ran into the room and gripped the blanket as she scaled the tall bed and crawled to her parent's heads.

Mhhhg… what?" Her mother groaned, rolling over.

"Excalibur's sick! He sounds like he got hurt or something!" Neko shook both of her parent's shoulders, trying to rouse them from their sleep.

"Honey, go see what she's talking about." Grim muttered, wanting to have the energy to tell the child to stop shaking him, but being too tired to do so.

"No. At night, she's _your_ child." His wife shot back.

Grim sighed, sitting up in the bed, and yawning before looking at the child who not only hadn't stopped shaking him, but had turned all of her attention and strength and energy on him as he was now the one that had woken up and was answering her pleas.

"Now," Grim reached up and gently grabbed Neko by the wrists, moving them down and holding them to stop her from pushing and pulling him. "What's the matter sweetheart?"

"There's something wrong with Excalibur!" The girl whimpered, now in tears from the fear of losing the annoying but loveable friend she had seemed to have had all of her life.

Grim woke up a little more at this. Nodding as he lifted the child up and held her to the side of his chest, feeling that loving feeling of a child's trust as Neko wrapped her arms around his neck and held on gently, knowing that her father wouldn't let her plummet to the carpeted floor below.

"How about we go see what's wrong with dear Excalibur, hm?" Grim spoke, his deep, rumbling voice soothing the scared child.

Neko nodded, leaning her tear streaked face against the side of her dad's neck, feeling the soothing up and down bobbing as her dad walked them out of the room and down the hall before entering the still dark room of his eldest daughter.

"Excalibur?" Grim flipped the light switch and turned the lights on, making everything more easily visible in the area. "Neko said that you aren't feeling well?"

Excalibur groaned at the sudden light, making him migraine erupt to even greater pain levels he hadn't experienced in several hundred years.

"Excalibur?" Grim frowned at the weapon who was desperately trying to bury his head in his pillow, his hands clinging to his head.

"Neko," The reaper set the girl down. "Go shut off the lights and close the blinds please."

"Yes Father." Neko nodded before running past him.

"Is it only your head Excalibur?" Grim spoke quietly, staring with sympathy at the pained weapon.

Excalibur shook his head, pulling one hand off of his head to point to his stomach.

The lights suddenly went out, the man sighed with relief as the migraine toned itself down.

"It would seem that you have the flu." The older reaper nodded, looking at the weapon.

"What?" Neko ran back over to her dad after shutting the blinds and immersing the room in almost total darkness.

"Honey, Excalibur is sick." Grim nodded. "Remember when you were sick? You felt icky all over and you were throwing up?"

Neko nodded.

"Do you remember what Mommy did for you when that happened?" Grim looked at the child, hoping that she would remember how her mom was very quiet and gentle.

Neko nodded again after some thought and suddenly rushed out of the room.

Grim watched the child go with confusion before dismissing the idea as nothing and turning his attention back on the century old weapon.

"Hold on, I'll be back." Grim nodded before standing up and walking into the connected bathroom. He quickly grabbed a rag and ran it under the cold water before ringing it out and walking back to Excalibur, placing the rag on the man's forehead.

"Ah." Excalibur sighed with relief. "Thank you."

"It's not a problem." Grim smiled.

"Here!" Neko ran into the room.

Grim noted that she was walking carefully while holding something in her hands, a rag wrapped around the object and steam pouring from the top.

"Neko, what do you have there?" Grim watched the child as she walked past him and set the cloth wrapped container next to Excalibur.

"I made soup!" Neko beamed, supremely proud of herself for making the tasty, sick-time food that he mother had made her eat.

Grim Reaper dead-panned and sighed upon seeing the canned food, realizing that he'd probably need to go buy a new microwave the next morning.

"Yes… good job… um… Neko," He frowned, looking gently at the girl. "Did you take it out of the can first?"

Neko stared at him innocently. "No. Why, was I supposed to?"

Grim sighed, shaking his head. "Never mind it now. Excalibur can't eat right now sweetie, if he's really sick, he'll just throw up the food and it'll dehydrate him even more."

"Oh." Neko frowned looking at the soup. "Well than can I have it?"

Grim nodded, wanting to get the child out of his hair.

"Yay! Soup!" Neko ran forward again and grabbed the can, running over to her bed and sitting there as she sipped the chicken broth with the soft, mushy noodles inside.

"How could I be sick?" Excalibur shivered, cold flashes sweeping through his body mercilessly.

"Well, you might have just eaten something or caught a bug. It happens to the best of us." Grim smiled.

"Hm." Excalibur grunted, shifting his weight to sit up.

"No." Grim pushed him down forcefully. "You should stay lying down. You need to get your rest."

"Excalibur..." Neko walked back over the creature once she had finished her early morning snack. "You're going to be okay, Excalibur… right?"

The man chuckled, not being able to control it however much his muscles were hurt and cramped. "Yes, I'll be fine Neko. This isn't the worst pain I've gone through. It's just a bug."

"Oh…" Neko stared at the floor for a second before her eyes lit up and she looked at the weapon. "If I catch it for you will you get better?"

"Not that kind of bug, darling. This bug is inside of Excalibur. It makes him sick." Grim lifted Neko onto his knee.

"That's a mean bug!" Neko scrunched her small hands into even smaller fists. "How do we get it out of him?"

"We don't." Excalibur chuckled.

"Well… than won't he be sick forever?" Neko looked up at her father's face that was normally hidden behind a skull mask.

"No." Grim smiled at his daughter, noticing how much she was taking in every detail of his face. "The bug will die on its own, but it might take a few days."

"So what do we do until then?" Neko looked between the two adults.

"We wait, and we help Excalibur in any way we can." Grim nodded, kissing the child's forehead.

Neko giggled before sliding off her father's leg and walking over to where the weapon lay.

She got down on her hands and knees and crawled to where Excalibur's head was, looking down on the weapon.

"Yes?" Excalibur looked up at the girl who was leaning over him.

Neko bent down and delivered a quick kiss to Excalibur's forehead before standing back up and staring at him.

"What was that for?" Excalibur looked at the small child.

"Well, when I was sick, everyday my mommy would come in and kiss me on the head and tell me that it would help me get better…" Neko traced circles in the carpet with her toe.

"Oh, thank you." Excalibur nodded, chuckling at the pure innocence of the child.

Neko hid her face and giggled before running behind her dad's back.

"Okay, Neko, I think you need to get some sleep." Grim nodded. "But we should give Excalibur his space, so why don't you quietly get you pillow and blanket and go sleep in your baby sister's room?"

Neko stared at him for a second before nodding vigorously and sprinting off, grabbing her bed dressings and running out of the room and to the next bedroom.

"Get some rest, Excalibur, I'll go to the store and pick you up some medicine." Grim smiled. _And a new microwave._ His brain reminded him, causing him to sigh with slight frustration.

Excalibur nodded, watching as the reaper walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

_When I was sick, everyday my mommy would come in and kiss me on the head and tell me that it would help me get better… _The word of the small child echoed in his head and as the weapon drifted off to sleep, he could feel his body already starting to feel more relaxed.


End file.
